2003 CamcorderInfo.com B&H Camcorder Shoot-Off: The Ultimate Video Comparison

by Robin Liss

Published on Sep 13, 2004 12:00 AM
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If you ask a camcorder shopper what the most important thing in their camcorder is to them, 9 out of 10 will say that video quality is their highest priority. It makes sense. The main purpose of a camcorder is too shoot video, not take stills, not surf the web, or do any of the 100's of gadety features included on today's camcorders. Reviews of a camcorder's handling, audio options, and still quality are helpful but direct comparisons of video quality are what users crave and need most to arm them in making educated purchases. That's why we've developed the CamcorderInfo.com B & H Camcorder Shoot-Off. CamcorderInfo.com has partnered with our major sponsor, B&H Photo Video to subject virtually every digital consumer camcorder on the market to a standardized test of video quality under both normal and low light lighting conditions. The 2003 CamcorderInfo.com B&H Camcorder Shoot-Off is the first of it's kind - no publication has ever done a shoot-off under controlled circumstances comparing this many consumer camcorders.

 

The CamcorderInfo.com 2003 B&H Camcorder Shoot-Off compared 36 different camcorders under very controlled conditions. All of the 36 camcorders from Canon, JVC, Panasonic and Sony were grouped into ten different price-groups. Over the next few months, every Monday we'll publish the test results of a different price group.

Each article includes stills from the video shot under normal lighting and low lighting from each camcorder, with a composite of all the camcorders in the price group at the end of the article. We encourage you to make your own judgments about the results, the pictures don't lie, however we ranked the camcorders in each price group and provided analysis of each camcorders performance.

DSC Labs provided the test chart for the Shoot-Off. We used DSC Labs' ChromaDuMonde™ Chart, their "Impossible" test chart. DSC Labs is one of the industry leaders in the production of professional test charts. Their charts are used by HBO, ABC, NBC and many other television networks. Their ChromaDuMonde chart allows for accurate comparisons of how camcorders reproduce colors. The charts are used by professionals to align and match their camcorders. The chart includes skin tone tiles as well as a ''true black" using DSC labs ''CaviBlack'', best described as a cavity in the back of the chart which results in creating a ''true black'' tile when the chart is shot straight on. DSC Labs produces smaller versions of the charts which you can carry around with you to align your own camcorders. They also make white balance and focusing cards. You can contact them at 905-673-3211 or dsc@dsclabs.com.

 

 

The tests were done at B&H's store in Manhattan, located at the corner of 9th and 33rd. The store itself is quite a production - overhead bins whisk products along to customers, and shoppers are given an unprecedented level of access to test the camcorders and other related products out in 'hands-on' settings. You can even play with the $100,000 professional camcorders if you like. B&H has been in the video business for 30 years, and it should be noted is a large sponsor of CamcorderInfo.com. Personally, and I'm not saying this because B&H is our major sponsor - I think it is really outstanding that B&H was willing to put the time and money behind these tests which are going to really help out users. B&H doesn't care what the results say, who they favor, and who they upset - they are willing to support an honest, scientific and reliable test of video quality of camcorders (and this test is likely to upset some manufacturers). I should also stress that B&H has NO editorial control over the Shoot-Off Articles, and that all the information provided in the shoot-off is objective and fair.

We subjected these consumer camcorders to one of the most difficult charts in the industry - it was a tough but accurate test. We used professional lights to set the light level to 3000 LUX (a measurement of light) for the "normal lighting" test and 15 LUX for the low light test. B&H's lighting professionals helped us to accurately setup the lighting so there were no ''hot-spots'' on the chart and the lighting was consistent with every camcorder. The tests were conducted by CamcorderInfo.com's Robin Liss, B&H's Chaim Rolnitzky, Mark Steinberg - Video Manager, Zoltan Rosenberg - VP of Marketing, Moishe Rosen - Professional Videographer, Rob Campbell - B&H Lighting Specialist and Lazer Wertzberg - Camcorder Buyer for B&H.

The results were very interesting as you will see over the next few weeks. Generally most camcorders did a pretty good under normal lighting conditions, but when we turned the lights down it got tough. There really are some clear differences between each camcorder making the low light test very important. Although camcorder manufacturer's give a minimum LUX rating for their camcorder - it is a very unreliable number which you can not trust. There is no standard for how visible an image has to look to claim it's at it's minimum LUX, so manufacturer's can slap any number on their spec sheets. We decided on 15 LUX because it is a pretty low light setting though its not completely dark.

We hope over the next few weeks the results from the 2003 B & H camcorder shoot-off will help you in making your purchasing decisions, especially those upcoming holiday gifts. The results were very interesting and were very excited for the test results to come out. Stay tuned!